Sponsored by
Stubbing out smoking 'can change your life'
SOCIAL worker Sandra Norris had been a 20-a-day smoker for more than two decades until last summer. Cigarettes were beginning to control her life.
She was hardly able to breathe when she woke up as she struggled with a hacking cough but still lit up as she drank a cup of tea at breakfast.
She smoked after meals and worst of all was smoking instead of eating. Her weight had dropped to an unhealthy seven stone.
On nights out she smoked many more. But after completing a degree, she decided it was time to break her habit.
"I was also approaching 40, it was a milestone in my life and I knew I needed to stop at some point so I thought it would be a good time to make the choice," she said.
Last August she joined an NHS stop-smoking group course in Hull.
She wore a nicotine patch and used a nicotine inhaler on nights out when she felt most like smoking.
Saving as much as 35 a week, she gave herself treats of clothes and make-up instead.
Now six months on she has successfully given up. Her weight has increased to eight stone, her skin is brighter, she feels better in herself, her sense of smell and taste has improved. She is also going to the gym. "Everybody says how much better I look as if I am blooming, the nicotine stains have gone and my hair and clothes smell fresher," she said.
"I'm really enjoying my food.
"At first social situations in the pub were definitely the hardest when I saw other people smoking and got the smell but I just bought crisps instead, although it was really hard to withstand temptation and I'd be gripping a chair really hard."
She is looking forward to the smoking ban in public places which begins in July. "When I first stopped smoking when I smelled cigarettes I really wanted one but now I find it really irritating and my clothes really stink," she said.
Doctors say stopping smoking is the single best lifestyle change which could improve health.
About one in four people in the region smoke, although on Hull's Bransholme estate it rises to more than 40 per cent – the highest in the country.
Health chiefs hope to achieve a national target to reduce smoking to 24 per cent two years early in 2008 but plan to get 10,000 more people to stop by 2010.
Kay Coates, a smoking cessation specialist in Hull, is at the forefront of efforts to cut smoking.
She said more than 3,000 people quit in the city in 2005-6 after four weeks of beginning a course. After a year about half of these had not started again. It is estimated though only three per cent of those who tried to quit on their own without any help were successful.
She said smoking levels were highest in areas of most deprivation and staff had made significant efforts to reach parts where traditional advertising messages often failed to hit home.
A total of 65 stop-smoking groups ran each week in Hull and the East Riding. Businesses are now asking for help ahead of the smoking ban in the summer. The free courses run for six weeks, entitling people to vouchers for nicotine replacement therapy through their GPs.
"In the first week we don't even talk about giving up but look at lifestyles. The majority of people haven't realised how much control smoking has over their lives," she said.
For further information about giving up ring 0800 1690169.
Email to a friend
Print this page- Leeds lose Ward to Palace: Is there anyone they can afford now?
- Sheffield Wednesday leaving it late to hijack Leeds United over Ward
- As Snodgrass dithers over Leeds, Warnock throws a lifeline
- Ball is in Leeds United’s court over contract - Snodgrass
- Police turning blind eye to Asian voter fraud, says MP
Looking for...
Featured advertisers
Jobs
Search for a job
Motors
Search for a car
Property
Search for a house
Weather for Yorkshire
Saturday 26 May 2012
Today
Sunny
Temperature: 9 C to 21 C
Wind Speed: 17 mph
Wind direction: East
Tomorrow
Sunny
Temperature: 9 C to 22 C
Wind Speed: 13 mph
Wind direction: East
